E-invoices via PA for Shopify stores in France

France is moving domestic B2B invoicing to a new model. Invoices have to be issued as structured files and exchanged through an approved platform, which also reports the transaction data to the French tax authority (DGFiP).

The change is phased in between 2026 and 2027, depending on the size of your business.

Sufio is an invoicing app for Shopify. For stores based in France, it registers your company with an approved platform, generates e-invoices from your orders, and submits them to your French B2B customers.

This article explains the French e-invoicing requirements for Shopify stores and how Sufio helps you meet them without changing how you work with orders and documents.

In this article, we will discuss

• E-invoicing laws in France
• French e-invoicing deadlines: 2026 and 2027
• What is an approved platform (plateforme agréée)?
• Which e-invoice formats are accepted in France?
• E-invoicing for Shopify stores selling B2B
  • Does French e-invoicing apply to B2C sales?
• French e-invoicing in Sufio
• Register your company for e-invoicing
• Submit e-invoices automatically
• Submit e-invoices manually
• FAQ

The reform is run by the Direction générale des Finances publiques (DGFiP), the French tax authority.

Every business established in France is covered, whatever its size or turnover, although the obligations start on different dates depending on how large your company is.

Businesses that do not charge VAT are also covered. If you sell under the franchise en base scheme, the reform applies to you in the same way it applies to any other business.

The reform has three goals: reducing VAT fraud, giving the tax authority a real-time view of business transactions, and eventually pre-filling VAT returns.

To achieve them, invoices no longer travel directly from one business to another. They pass through approved platforms, known in French as plateformes agréées.

E-invoices have to follow the European standard EN 16931. PDF or paper copies can still be shared for convenience, but they are only a visual representation of the invoice.

The reform rolls out in two phases, and the dates differ depending on whether you are receiving or issuing e-invoices.

Here is when each obligation starts, based on the size of your company:

Most Shopify stores are small businesses or micro-enterprises. If that applies to you, your obligation to issue e-invoices starts on September 1, 2027.

The obligation to receive them starts earlier. From September 1, 2026, every business established in France has to be able to receive e-invoices, regardless of size. This is the deadline most merchants overlook.

In practice, this means your store has to be connected to an approved platform by September 1, 2026, even if you will not start issuing e-invoices until a year later.

An approved platform, or plateforme agréée (PA), is a service registered by the DGFiP and authorized to handle e-invoices on behalf of businesses.

Its role is to sit between you, your customer, and the tax authority, and to make sure every invoice reaches everyone involved.

Every company covered by the reform has to designate one.

When you issue an invoice, your platform:

1. Validates the invoice against the required format and checks that all mandatory data is present.
2. Transmits it to your customer's own approved platform, which delivers it to them.
3. Reports the invoice and transaction data to the DGFiP.

Your customer's platform then sends back lifecycle statuses, such as whether the invoice was received or rejected.

This is why you cannot simply email a structured invoice yourself. Even a correctly formatted e-invoice is not compliant unless it is transmitted through an approved platform.

However, you do not have to contract with a platform directly. What matters is that the invoicing software you already use is connected to one.

For Shopify stores, Sufio is connected to an approved platform. You do not have to select, contract with, or configure one separately.

Once the obligation applies to your business, a regular PDF invoice is no longer enough for domestic B2B sales. The invoice has to be issued in a structured format that software can read and process automatically.

Three formats are accepted: Factur-X, UBL, and CII. All three are based on the European standard EN 16931 and contain the same invoice data.

They differ in how that data is packaged.

• UBL is an XML file with no visual layout. It is designed to be read by software rather than by a person.
• CII is also an XML file, widely used in cross-border trade. It holds the same data as UBL, structured differently.
• Factur-X is a hybrid. The structured data is embedded inside a PDF invoice, so one document serves both your customer and their accounting software.

Sufio supports two of them, and they cover two different needs:

The two are not interchangeable. Factur-X changes what your PDF contains, but the document is still sent by you. Submitting through an approved platform is what meets the obligation, and Sufio uses UBL for that.

Most Shopify stores sell to a mix of customers. Some orders come from consumers, others from businesses, and they often go through the same checkout.

That matters here, because the e-invoicing obligation applies to individual transactions rather than to your store as a whole.

Only orders placed by a business established in France and registered for VAT require an e-invoice. Other sales are covered by a separate obligation.

So before you can issue anything, you need a way to tell those orders apart. That is where most of the work sits for a Shopify merchant:

• Collect the customer's French VAT number at checkout (alongside the billing address) so that qualifying orders can be identified automatically.
• Generate an e-invoice from those orders.
• Submit it through an approved platform.

The first point is the one that requires a change to your store rather than to your invoicing process. The other two happen in your invoicing software.

Sales to consumers fall under a separate obligation called e-reporting.

With e-reporting, you do not issue an e-invoice to your customer. Instead, the transaction data from those sales is transmitted to the DGFiP through an approved platform as aggregated totals for a given period rather than order by order. How often you report depends on your VAT regime.

E-reporting applies to two types of sales:

• Sales to consumers, whether they are made in your online store, in person, or through any other channel.
• Sales to businesses outside France, including intra-EU deliveries and exports, since these fall outside the domestic B2B rules.

The deadlines follow the same schedule as e-invoicing: September 2026 for large and mid-sized companies, September 2027 for small businesses and micro-enterprises.

Sufio currently supports B2B e-invoicing. Support for B2C e-reporting is planned for a future release.

For Shopify stores based in France, Sufio can automatically create e-invoices and submit them to your French business customers through an approved platform.

E-invoices are generated for both invoices and credit notes issued to your French business customers.

This applies whether the document was created automatically from an order, a refund, or a return, or manually in the Sufio app.

Sufio generates French e-invoices in UBL and submits them through a certified approved platform, which delivers them to your customers and reports them to the DGFiP.

At the same time, the app continues to generate PDF invoices that can be emailed to your customers or downloaded from their accounts in your online store.

The two formats are controlled separately. On the Settings → Documents page, French stores have a Factur-X data in PDF invoices setting and an E-invoicing via French PA setting.

You can use both at the same time. The PDF will contain Factur-X data, and the corresponding e-invoice will be submitted separately through the approved platform.

Before you can send e-invoices, your company has to be registered with an approved platform.

This registration designates the platform as your PA, which is a legal requirement under the reform.

In Sufio, you complete it from the E-invoicing via French PA card on the Settings → Documents page, without contacting a platform yourself.

Once your company is registered, you can have Sufio submit e-invoices for you.

The automation covers invoices and credit notes created from orders, refunds, and returns in your store. Documents you create manually in your Sufio account always have to be submitted manually.

To enable automatic submitting of e-invoices:

1. In your Sufio account, go to the Settings → Documents page.
2. Scroll down to the E-invoicing via French PA card.
3. Turn the Automatically submit e-invoices for B2B customers toggle on.
4. Click the Update settings button at the top of the page to apply the changes.

The toggle is off by default, so no e-invoices are sent until you turn it on.

From then on, an e-invoice is generated and submitted as soon as a qualifying invoice or credit note is created in your Sufio account.

E-invoices can be submitted manually from any invoice or credit note in your Sufio account.

This is the only option for documents created manually rather than from an order, since the automation does not cover them. It is also how you submit an e-invoice if you have not enabled automatic submitting.

To submit an e-invoice manually:

1. In your Sufio account, go to the Invoices or Credit notes page and open the document you want to submit.
2. Click the Submit e-invoice button.
3. A status message shows the result of the submission.

Mandatory e-invoicing mainly applies to domestic B2B transactions between VAT-taxable businesses established in France.

B2C sales and cross-border transactions are generally not covered by the same e-invoicing obligation, but they may still be subject to e-reporting.

The cost depends on the platform or provider a business uses. Some basic services may be free, while private platforms, apps, or integrations may charge based on features, invoice volume, or support.

In your Shopify account, make sure your business details, VAT number, tax settings, and customer billing information are correct.

You should also ensure your invoices include the required French invoice fields, such as SIREN numbers, VAT details, and delivery addresses when needed.

Do I need to sign up with an approved platform myself?

No. Sufio is already connected to one. You register your company from the E-invoicing via French PA card in your Sufio account, and no separate contract with a platform is needed.

Can I keep sending PDF invoices to my customers?

Yes. Sufio continues to generate PDF invoices that you can email or make available for download. For domestic B2B sales, the PDF accompanies the e-invoice rather than replacing it.